The List of the Best, Must Have Mods for Skyrim, with Links, Descriptions, and Videos
NEW VERSION October 2015:http://insane0hflex.github.com/moddingforge-skyrim/
Updated 6/18/2013
This post is my list of best, must have mods for Skyrim. This post is meant to help new and old players alike, and feel free to share the link of this post with anyone else that has questions about Skyrim mods.
There are two sections in this post:
1) The first three sections of this post are the mods I would consider to be absolutely essential. Bug fixes, UI enhancements, immersivion mods, and more.2) More great mods that may interest you. Such as magic mods, house mods, armor mods, etc.
First, you will need Skyrim Script Extender (SKSE). Download SKSE here. You will now need to start Skyrim with skse_launcher.exe in order for SKSE, and mods that require it, to work.
Next, get BOSS - to keep your mods properly "load-ordered", to improve performance and reduce CTDs due to improper mod load order. Install your mods with NMM, then after that run BOSS to sort the mods.
Then, to easily install most of these mods - get the Nexus Mod Manager (NMM). With NMM, you can download mods with a click of a button from the Skyrim Nexus website, then install/uninstall mods with the NMM program, as well as configure your load order. Not required, but recommended.
If you don't like the Skyrim Nexus, most of the mods in this post are also available on the Steam Workshop.
If you're interested in seeing Skyrim mod videos about the latest and greatest mods for Skyrim (new and old), here's my YouTube channel.
Also, GophersVids is another great resource for learning about mods. Gopher does a weekly mod video series and Let's Play Skyrim series. He is also the author behind iHUD, an incredible (and essential) mod.
Please remember to endorse any mod you download and if you enjoy it - its a way of giving thanks to a modder's hard work. I bookmark the pages of the mods I download, that way I remember to endorse the mod after a hour.
| Mod name | Mod description | Video |
|---|---|---|
| Unofficial Skyrim Patch(es) | A community made patch for fixing bugs/issues with Skyrim and other DLCs. May increase performance and reduce crashes. | N/A |
| SkyUI | A User Interface mod that completely overhauls the UI of Skyrim's inventory menus & more to be/look a TON better. MUST HAVE! | N/A |
| iHUD | A mod created by Gopher. Hides the HUD when you don't need it, shows the HUD when you do need it! Simply amazing. | N/A |
| A Quality World Map - With Roads | Adds the roads, trails, and paths of Skyrim to the World Map. | Video |
| Mod name | Mod description | Video |
|---|---|---|
| XCE - Xenius Character Enhancement | Mod that makes the skin textures of NPCs and your character look much better. | N/A |
| Ethereal Elven Overhaul | Ethereal Elven Overhaul is a comprehensive revamp of the elf races of Skyrim. It alters every aspect of their facial features to a more appealing look, while remaining faithful to the original work and striving for realism. EEO also affects every elven NPC in the game and comes with new presets. | Video |
| Apachii Sky Hair | The most commonly used hair mod. Adds dozens of new, high-quality hairstyles to males and females. | Video |
| Climates of Tamriel | Weather system overhaul mod for Skyrim, with hundreds of new weather patterns/systems and environmental sound effects. | Video |
| Enhanced Blood Textures | Stellar mod that adds better blood effects and new ones too. Very highly recommended. | N/A |
| Book Covers | Book Covers is a mod that gives books a colorful, designed, unique cover. Simple, but incredible mod. | Video |
| Radiant and Unique Potions and Poisons HD | Adds custom labels to all potions and poisons in Skyrim. | Video |
| Booze Bottles HD | Replaces the textures of alcoholic beverages with a unique and great looking label | Video |
| Skyrim 2K HD | My favorite "HD Texture Overhaul" of Skyrim. | N/A |
| Vurt's Floral Overhaul | This mod retextures the plants, trees, flowers, grass of Skyrim to be more photo-realistic and more varied. | N/A |
| Pure Waters | Pure Waters overhauls the waters in Skyrim - fixing flow, better textures, etc. | Video |
| Static Mesh Improvement Mod - SMIM | This mod fixes a lot of UV mapping mesh errors, and even adds some new 3d models in! | N/A |
- Optional (a few of the mods in this video may be outdated) - Skyrim Mod Collection: Enhanced Distant Terrain and other Distant Detail Mods - This video is like the UI collection one, but enhances the distant objects and details of Skyrim to look a lot better.
| Mod name | Mod description | Video |
|---|---|---|
| Interesting NPCs | A+ quality mod that adds dozens of new NPCs, most of which are voiced, that are interesting! Most of them have dozens of lines of dialogue, and there are a few NPCs you can meet that are "super followers". | Video |
| Convenient Horses | Tons of new awesome features for horses, including armor, mounted looting+talking, mounted combat for NPC followers, and more. | Video |
| Footprints | Now when you walk in snow, you leave a footprint behind! | Video |
| No Spinning Death Animation | Removes the unnatural spinning death animation that happens when you or NPCs die, and replaces it with a realistic ragdoll. | Video |
| Player Headtracking | Your character turns his/her head to look at other NPCs when they are talking, passing by, and more. Great immersion mod when in 3rd person. | Video |
| Wet and Cold | NPCs will equip rain hoods when its raining and head for cover, when NPCs are out in cold climates their breath has a "steam" effect, they wear gloves and hoods, and more. Check out isoku's SkyrimNexus profile for more cool immersion mods too. | Video |
| Clanking Armor | Adds a metallic "clanking" noise when you walk/run/sprint, when you are wearing heavy armor or heavy armor boots like iron, daedric, dwarven, etc. | Video |
| Auto Unequip Ammo | Mod that makes is that you automatically unequip arrows from your character when you are not using a bow. | Video |
| Better Quest Objectives | Mod that adds more text information to your journal of many quests. Better for immersion. | Video |
Important note: The following mods in the rest of the post below are optional.
| Mod name | Mod description | Video |
|---|---|---|
| Achieve That! | A neat mod that adds 100+ new "achievements" that give bonuses (like buffs to stats) upon completing them. | Video |
| Alternate Start - Live Another Life | This mod gives you a variety of choices for a new playthrough. Instead of starting in Helgen - You'll start in a cell where you'll customize your character (race,gender,face,etc), then you'll choose an unique start other than the Helgen/vanilla intro sequence. | N/A |
| Apocalypse Spell Package | ASP adds over 170+ fair and balanced spells across each school of magic. A great mod for mages and spellswords. Well, any class really. | Video |
| Dance of Death | Dance of Death adds many new killmove animations across almost all weapon types. You can also configure the killmove chance to 100%, only beheading killmoves, and enable killmoves even if its not the last NPC alive, and more. | N/A |
| Frostfall | OPTIONAL: Ultimate survival roleplaying mod. Recommended for hardcore realism players. Basic premise is that you'll need to prepare yourself for the cold, extreme climates of Skyrim - making fires, keeping warm, and not freezing to death. | Video |
| EZ2C Dialogue | A mod that fixes and adds a lot more features and functionality to the dialogue menu. | Video |
| Mod name | Mod description | Video |
|---|---|---|
| Immersive Armors | Tons of great lore friendly armor items are added by this excellent mod, by hothtrooper44 who is very well known for his great armor mods. | Video |
| Winter is Coming | Mod that adds several different types of rugged fur cloaks and helms, fit for the harsh northern climate of Skyrim. | N/A |
| Cloaks of Skyrim | Alternative cloak mod (more "fantasy" like); adds dozens of different cloaks to NPCs and the crafting menu. I'd suggest using either Cloaks or WiC, but not both at the same time. | N/A |
| Bandolier | Increase your carry weight capacity by crafting various bags and pouches that you can wear. Great for hoarders, or people that want to personalize their character model. | OLD Video](http://www.youtube.com/watch?&v=dJoRIrpLm4s) |
Note: For more experienced users, since you will need to install these manually and you will most likely have to change the ENB's settings manually to get the best performance.
Also, only one ENB can be "on" (enabled) at a time!
| ENB preset name | Mod description | Video |
|---|---|---|
| K ENB | Beautiful, vibrant ENB preset. | Video |
| Matso ENB | Another brilliant, stunning ENB preset. | Video |
| Mod name | Mod description | Video |
|---|---|---|
| UFO - Ultimate Follower Overhaul | Have more than 1 follower, set followers to essential, see their skills, etc - see video for more info. | Video |
| Hoth | Hoth is a grizzly, old bounty hunter bad ass, and my favorite follower mod. He has custom voice acting, and can give you quests too (Bounty Quests), so there's always something to do with him. | Video |
| Companion Vilja | Vilja is a highly detailed custom follower mod - she has her own quest, backstory, and voiced dialogue. | Video |
| Odvar the Afflicted | A more humor-themed follower. Spits bile at his foes, and has amazing custom voice acting too. | Video |
| Companion Valfar | Valfar is a passionate Stomcloak warrior - uses Galmar Stonefist's voice. | Video |
| Cerwiden | Cerwide - A female follower that will heal you and has smart AI | N/A |
Other Resources to Utilize
G.E.M.S. - Gameplay Enhancement Mods for Skyrim - A website with links to 500+ mods, updated daily, with gameplay related mods - ranging from immersion mods to user interface mods to magic mods, etc.
STEP Project - A guide for graphic and visual mods for Skyrim. I haven't used it, but heard many positive comments about it.
Thanks for reading! I'll try to help anyone that has questions - either leave a comment here or PM me.
Note: I don't personally use the Steam Workshop - hence the lack of Steam Workshop mods/links, but most of the mods listed here can be found on SteamWorkshop.
TL;DR: Skyrim Nexus - go here to download mods.
Watch Skyrim mod videos to learn about the best, newly released mods here - insane0hflex, and here - GophersVids.
